As the closing of another outstanding and successful year approaches, we can look back and revisit the activities and the fond memories that made it all possible. It was also a very notable year historically as the Society celebrated yet another milestone last October in the arrival of its 60th birthday. As always, our task to promote photography in the local community and to assist our members in the art and science of image-making has been at the forefront of our aims and priorities. For this to be viable, a healthy level of membership had to be maintained in order to be effective in the areas of competition, knowledge-sharing, tuition and collective organisation of our various activities. Despite a slight drop in our numbers, membership has remained relatively stable on average throughout the year. The many highlights throughout the year included the well-supported monthly competition program, interesting monthly excursions, varied Activity nights and a very successful Annual Exhibition. A summary of these events coupled with the essential backup services are detailed as follows.
The popular Monthly Competition nights were always well-attended by the majority of members eager to showcase their finest work and receive constructive criticism and acclaim from their peers. At nearly the conclusion as convenor of the Competitions Subcommittee and despite a few hiccups along the way, congratulations are in order to Ross Gould for a sterling effort in performing an often difficult task in the light of a dwindling 'database of available judges'. Ross will soon report on the outcome of the past competition year.
The Activity Nights program, headed by myself with the other members of the team, Marion Milliken, Bill Hall and Brian Jones, continued to receive positive feedback. Invited guest speakers included talented Bob Givens on his brand of sports photography, Paul Benny treated us with a series of projected international standard creative images from the APS digital group, Bridget Ayling, a PhD student from the ANU, Research School of Earth Sciences who presented some fascinating images she captured on field trips to Antarctica and beyond. Linda Groom, Pictures Librarian at the Australian National Library hosted a visit of our members to the image archives.
As part of the Activities program, presentations given by several society members also proved popular and included short talks and image presentations on 'You too can be a Judge', 'Infrared and Grain', 'Camera Controls', 'Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxi' (Murray Foote), Images from Myanmar (Rob Milliken), Tasmanian Wilderness images (Moira Parkinson), studio portraiture workshop using Studio flash equipment (Jim Mason with Marlene Lux as exotic model), CPS 60th Anniversary Exhibition submission tips and matt cutting (Joe Cali and Jim Mason), Theatre Photography (Kathleen Fisher, Malcolm Smith, Susan Henderson, Ray Osmotherly, Ross Gould and Graham Watson with images by Keith Bogg and the late Maurice Weidemann), 'Favourite Photographer' presentations by Ian McInnes and Jim Mason, 'The History of Photography' an illustrated chronology by Ross Gould accompanied by a display of historic cameras and images by Ray Osmotherly. As an adjunct to the above in-house Activity nights, the social aspect of having two Restaurant nights built into the agenda proved successful with a night out at the Babar Restaurant in Civic (organised by Moira Parkinson) and another later in the year at Guss' which followed an unsuccessful attempt to gain access to the new Griffin Centre for a pre-walkthrough visit.
The Murray Bridge Interclub Competition has again been a popular annual event as part of our Activities calendar and our thanks and appreciation are extended to Bronwyn Hendy for organising this. An integral part of the program saw the popular 'Digital Darkroom' segment abound in Photoshop editing tips for the digitally-minded members within our ranks. Many thanks to Marion Milliken for presenting these mini-workshops and Brian Rope for his generosity in providing many of the APS creative images and his personal equipment. Also, our thanks go to John Tomley for supplying and talking us through several CD-based tutorials.
Congratulations to Bronwyn Hendy as Convenor of the Excursions Subcommittee with her team comprising Peter Buckley, Colin Rickard and Brian Jones who jointly organised several monthly well-attended excursions throughout the year which were as follows: There was action-a-plenty at the Goulburn Rodeo and Gundaroo Bush Races as a small contingent of members availed themselves of exciting image material that these events had to offer. An exhibition of glass entitled "Surface Beauty" at the Australian National gallery. Abundant image opportunities at the Telstra Grand Prix Athletics Meet at the AIS and early morning hot air balloons and breakfast at the old Parliament House lawns, a night photography excursion around the Parliamentary Triangle to capture the vividly floodlit buildings followed by coffee at Tosillinis in Civic. 'A Day in the Life of Canberra' by several members, a visit to the Railway Museum in Kingston, a 'Natural light portraiture and still life' workshop with invited models at Strathnairn homestead, local Triple-Master AIPP photographer David Paterson provided a small party of members with valuable tips on 'architectural photography' on a Saturday workshop excursion. An Early morning excursion to 'Floriade' to capture all that the spring season has to offer. A very well organised weekend excursion to the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and an event still to come to round off the Excursion calendar, 'Rocks, Stumps and an old Tram" located near Berridale in the Snowy region. Well done to the Excursions team for a wonderful effort in organising these events.
Congratulations as well to the Exhibitions Subcommittee convened by Kathleen Fisher and her team of Bronwyn Hendy and Ray Osmotherly who successfully hung the Society's Annual Exhibition entitled "Fresh" at the Strathnairn Homestead Gallery in urban Holt. Special thanks go to all those who assisted in the hanging and pulling down the work. Ray Osmotherly and his Publicity team of Peter Buckley, as with other events throughout the year, performed admirably in their efforts to promptly distribute information to the general public utilising the press and other mediums. The official opening festivities were well-attended and included sumptuous food platters and liquid refreshments served in a very professional manner by Kathleen's dedicated family members.
Other group exhibitions by talented individual Society members Marlene Lux and Marie Lund were shown at the Huw Davies Gallery at Photo Access. Another small show of prints was on show at the Hawker Primary School Fete and again in the proposed new Griffin Centre café in support of the recent opening.
Joe Cali, as convenor for the Society's 60th Anniversary Exhibition Subcommittee, painstakingly catalogued each member's submission and currently awaits the CMAG Curator's assessment of work to be chosen, however, Joe will read his more detailed report on this issue later in the meeting.
As previously reported, preparations for the Weidemann Retrospective Exhibition were undertaken in the previous year. Joe had held discussions with Denise Ferris of the ANU School of Art and still awaits confirmation of details of their offer to exhibit the work perhaps on a shared basis.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph of this report, a healthy and well-informed membership is integral to the success of the Society and this applies especially to those who seek our assistance for the first time and become new members. Marion Milliken as convenor of the New Members portfolio with her team of Peter Buckley, Moira Parkinson, and Brian Jones took special care of these people and promptly guided them in their quest to become fully fledged members. Congratulations team for a job well done.
As with previous years, along with verbal and e-mail announcements, all of the latest news and proposed events can only be successfully disseminated to members by means of an informative, attractive and timely monthly newsletter. Colin Rickard as convenor of our monthly newsletter The Cassette, and his team of 'merry scribes' in Kathleen Fisher with resident assistant Justin Wasserman, Moira Parkinson and Ross Gould, successfully continued in their task of delivering quality newsworthy events and images under extremely limited timeframes. Congratulations and well done to an enthusiastic and talented group of people.
Other important smaller tasks were also performed throughout the year comprising the Library maintenance by Ray Osmotherly, wine and raffles by Bronwyn Hendy, and Collections and catering by Jim Mason. Hearty thanks to these members as well as those who assisted in setting up the display boards and other equipment on competition and Activity nights. And a special thanks to John Tomley for the production of our pocket-sized Annual Program booklet.
As always the dedication and prompt attention
to our requests by Joe Cali ensured that our news events were
just a mouse-click away, by his efficient maintenance of both
the e-mail and rses website services. In regard to the latter,
progress continued in the planning of our new website which Joe
has kindly offered to design and implement with our assistance
in the early stages.
It goes without saying that all this meticulous organisation and
planning of the above events can only be made possible by an enthusiastic
Committee and efficient Office Bearers and this year was no exception.
Bronwyn Hendy and Colin Rickard our two Vice-Presidents performed
their duties to a tee in providing valuable backup in my absence.
Our original Secretary Kathleen Fisher, after having succumbed
to illness early in the calendar year resigned her Office to concentrate
on her remaining duties as detailed above. Marion Milliken who
immediately resumed the vacant Secretary position performed admirably
with her accurate minute-taking, impeccable record-keeping and
the essential 'Think Tank' suggestions to keep us all 'honest'
and on target. Our special thanks go to our dedicated Treasurer
Peter Dawson who 'beavered away' relentlessly in order to keep
our monetary records on track. Well done Peter for a very difficult
job done well. Ray Osmotherly once again excelled in his duties
as Public Officer, a very important roll in the submission of
our business details to the authorities and ensuring that we comply
with the Corporations Act. Well done and many thanks to all these
members and our deepest appreciation to those who will be stepping
down from the Committee.
Again, this has been another good year for the Society often under difficult and uncertain accommodation related circumstances. It was the night of 20 September 2005 when a modest gathering of elated photographers celebrated their new home with slide shows, nibblies and champagne. Indeed an historic year to have changed our accommodation arrangements after some three decades in the Studio Room of the old Griffin Centre to the new quarters across the road. Although there are issues still to be resolved in this area, the committee will endeavour to seek the most appropriate venues of the best value for the Society membership.
Thankyou everyone and enjoy your photography.
Jim Mason
President, Canberra Photographic Society Incorporated
15 November 2005
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